Mural depicting Scott Morrison during his trip to Hawaii as Australia burned earns street artist $50,000 – and he’ll donate it ALL to the Rural Fire Service
- Morrison is painted wearing a Hawaiian shirt as red and black flames rise high
- The mural was painted over but the image was immortalised on Instagram
- T-shirts with the design earned the artist $50,000 and will be donated to the RFS
A mural showing Scott Morrison drinking a cocktail on a holiday in Hawaii while horrifying bushfires ravaged the nation has earned the street artist $50,000.
Artist Scott Marsh painted the artwork on a wall in the inner-Sydney suburb of Chippendale last Tuesday – with Mr Morrison saying ‘Merry Crisis’ in a speech bubble.
Mr Morrison is depicted in the mural wearing an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt, orange lei and Santa Claus hat while holding a cocktail.
In the background, red and black flames rise high.
T-shirts bearing the design have generated $50,000 and Marsh said he will donate it all to the Rural Fire Service.
Mr Morrison is depicted in the mural wearing an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt, orange lei and Santa Claus hat while holding a cocktail
Street artist Scott Marsh said on Instagram he would donate the $50,000 he made from selling T-shirts bearing his controversial mural to the RFS
He also said on Instagram the screen printing company that helped him create the shirts, Aisle6ix, printed them free of charge.
It follows the prime minister’s decision to cut an overseas family holiday in the US state short to respond to the bushfire crisis.
‘Heading out to Hawaii when the country is literally on fire is probably not a really great move in terms of leadership. I think public sentiment around that is all pretty unified,’ Mr Marsh said last Tuesday after the mural was finished.
Three days later a video was posted to his Facebook page showing the mural being painted over, returning the patch of wall to grey.
It follows the prime minister’s decision last weekend to cut an overseas family holiday in the US state short to respond to the bushfire crisis
Scott Morrison was spotted on a beach in Hawaii while multiple states in Australia suffered catastrophic bushfires
‘There’s always the risk that someone’s gonna take offence and paint over it, it’s a shame that it did because I think a lot of people were enjoying it,’ Mr Marsh said on Friday.
But he said the responses had been overwhelmingly positive.
‘They’re like, it’s true, it pretty much perfectly illustrates what’s happened and the frustrations of a lot of people,’ Mr Marsh said.
Street artist Scott Marsh wore a balaclava to the GQ Men Of The Year awards in November
He believes Mr Morrison may be happy the mural has been painted over.
‘I don’t think he would have loved it,’ he said.
‘A lot of the murals get attacked and it actually ends up amplifying the message anyway because a lot more people heard about it,’ Mr Marsh said.
‘But also they have an online and digital life as much as they do a physical life.’
‘In terms of this mural it’s already done some pretty special stuff in terms of the money that’s been raised so I can’t be too disappointed with that.’
Mr Morrison returned to work last Sunday, admitting he may have erred in going on holiday.
The prime minister said to the Australians he had upset by being away during the latest bushfire emergency: ‘I apologise for that.’
At least 873 homes have been destroyed in NSW in the bushfire season, as well as almost 100 in South Australia and more than a dozen in Queensland.